What's a Good, Free Recipe for Muscadine Jelly?

Make muscadine jelly combining 5 cups of fresh muscadine grape juice, 6 cups of sugar and 1 package of pectin together. First, place 5 pounds of muscadine grapes in a stockpot, and bring the pot to a boil while mashing the grapes with a potato masher. After pouring the fruit through a strainer, add the pectin and the sugar to the still-boiling water, and stir continuously for five to eight minutes. Pour the juice mixture into sterilized jars, and refrigerate.

The recipe makes approximately 12 8-ounce jars or 6 pint jars of muscadine jelly, which tastes similar to grape jelly but has more of a tart flavor. Muscadine grapes are commonly found in the southern United States and are ripe after Labor Day in September.

Read the packaging instructions on the pectin container, and determine whether the juice can form a jelly after adding only one package. Pectin is a naturally occurring polysaccharide that causes juice to thicken when it is added with sugar and brought to a boil. Although pectin is found in small quantities in grapes and berries, adding packaged pectin simplifies the jellying process and decreases the amount of sugar and stirring necessary to properly make jam.